Cold Comfort
by eolhcsullivan452
Summary: "She tried to tell herself she wasn't shivering because it felt colder than Mt. Gagazet, but rather she was trembling with excitement at what new adventures she'd have with these idiots the next day." A story of the Crimson Squad. Baralai/Paine


I don't own Final Fantasy or anything of the sort, just like I don't own the little review box at the bottom left hand corner of this page just dying for love. Won't you help it along with its life purpose? LOL.

Cold Comfort

Her fellow boys, her dear friends, her Crimson Squad were a bunch of blanket hogging wimps. Seriously, for seeming so tough the rest of the time they could sure do a 180 when nighttime fell. Perhaps it was their way at getting back at her, for her trying to get back at them for what they did earlier. Gippal, always being the curious type, had found it his duty to dispose of any secrets in the new group of friends and therefore decided to go through Paine's few belongings. And of course the first thing he'd had to have found was a piece of paper that had her _real_ name on it. Her annoying, stupid name she'd always hated. If you could burn names she would have as soon as hers was given to her-- Penelope.

Yes, her name was actually Penelope. The boys being boys had teased her about it non-stop as soon as they had found out, which led to her chasing them around, around, and around, shouting threats of what she'd do when she did catch them if they didn't stop. And she _would _catch them.

Then again, the feud had ended hours ago when they'd finally stopped running around in circles and collapsed, too tired to even blink, and the boys and Paine called a truce. It was surprisingly freezing and that seemed reason enough for their behavior.

So here she was still wide awake at Yevon knew what time, while her allies were fast asleep counting chocobos. She told herself she wasn't cold. Told herself that this was actually a blessing in disguise. After all, someone had to stay alert in case they were attacked by fiends. She also tried to tell herself she wasn't shivering because it felt colder than Mt. Gagazet, but rather she was trembling with excitement at what new adventures she'd have with these idiots the next day. Emphasis on idiots. But they really were her friends. And she loved 'em. And although she hated to admit it, she felt closer to them than she had with anyone since her parents…

She stopped her train of thought right there. She didn't want to think about it. And couldn't dare to remember. She was so deep in thought she felt that she must have put her sword teacher to shame, wherever he was, when she didn't sense someone approach her until their hand was on her shoulder.

"Paine, what are you doing up?"

She honestly didn't know how to answer that. There were three choices really. She could either say that _A,_ she couldn't sleep because of the fact that him and the other two manly men were hogging all the blankets and she might have even gone into hypothermia but wouldn't even know it because her body was starting to go numb to the cold. _B,_ her thoughts were driving her mad and she was almost arguing with herself. That wouldn't be smart because he'd either think she was completely insane or worse, might ask her if she wanted to talk about it. And then there was _C,_ that she was just keeping a lookout for threats.

"I'm just making sure that no fiends want to come chow down on us while we're resting; it's really no big deal, Baralai."

"Are you sure, because I could of sworn I heard you crying a moment ago. You must have dozed off for a second. It's actually what woke me up, so I came over to see if you were having a nightmare or something."

That statement hurt Paine deeply. She had been crying in her sleep? She didn't even remember going to sleep, much less when or how long. Ever since she'd lost her parents, she'd made sure she never seemed vulnerable to anyone. She didn't want to get attached to someone just because she needed someone to lean on, because with relationships like that it was always one-sided, and your pillar of strength needed someone to lean on too. Anyway, they just end somehow leaving you, and you hurt more from losing someone you care about than you do if you lose someone who was just there in your life. She didn't want to come off as weak to anyone in mind, body, or soul, whether it was in consciousness or unconsciousness. It was half the reason she "changed" her name to Paine. So it wasn't like she was really disrespecting the name her parents gave her. It was more of a nickname.

"Are you sure you just weren't dreaming?" The girl said it harsher than she meant to.

Baralai regarded her for a minute before answering. "I didn't think I was, but who knows? Regardless, Paine, how about we switch now? Your eyes are bloodshot and I think your cool air is actually starting to turn you blue. Why don't you get some rest?"

"Really, I'm fine. And I'm not blue, I'm white, white as a ghost actually. But I'm always like this. What can you do?" They both couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Lady Penelope, I guess it's time I come clean. The truth is I'm still cold even with this blanket and with those two snoring I'll never fall asleep again. So, I was hoping I could play look out. But since you don't seem to want to relent, how about we both stay up? We can share this blanket. You know what they say when you're freezing--you're supposed to get near people. It'll help. And I think _I'm_ the one that's turning blue."

Paine half wanted to hit him for bringing up the Penelope bit again, but didn't when she realized he wasn't making fun of her, and it seemed like this might be a closure on it so he never would again. She also sort of wanted to laugh. She decided against both of those. Instead she let him sit down beside her and _finally _got some of the heaven sent blanket covering her. She knew what he was doing; she wasn't an idiot. She wouldn't let him win. She wouldn't fall asleep and let him leave her after knowing she was sleeping, because then he would let her keep the blanket for the rest of the night. They would both stay up late talking, which was the real deal.

She could only curse to herself when she felt her eyelids begin to get heavy. As suspected, after knowing she was asleep, he got up and let her have the blanket. When the sun woke her up a few hours later she couldn't help but be upset with herself when she saw him back near the guys again fast asleep, looking like instead of turning blue he was turning purple. But of course realization hit her, and she knew it was _A, _her imagination or _B,_ the sunlight. It really wasn't _that_ cold. They were camping out in a desert after all. She couldn't help but smile. Baralai _was_ really sweet, and the biggest idiot of them all.

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**Author's Note: **Once again this whole creation was due to my crazy Muse. Anyway, I always liked this pairing, but sadly realized that there are really nothing I've seen with them. So I decided to write this little piece of fiction. And I have to say it came out a _lot_ better than I thought it would, actually. Please review; I'd love to know what you guys thought of it. And thank you Qwi-Xux for all of your help, I'd die without you. ;) Oh, and I did make the Penelope thing up. Paine's name just always bothered me. I mean really, what kind of name was that? And Penelope does sort of sound like it… Well until next time everyone! May the light guide you;)


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